Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Mermaid Shell Top

This week we are going to be doing a really fun mermaid-themed project!

A Mermaid Shell Top!

How cool is this? It's a really easy and cheap idea for fast mermaid costume or just for a quirky beach shirt for this summer. Who doesn't want to feel like a mermaid once in a while?

What I used to make this mermaid top was a regular white t-shirt, GP Purple Ceramcoat Acrylic paint, Iridescent Purple Scribbles, and Textile Medium. I also had some parchment paper to help stop the paint from bleeding onto the back of the shirt as well as an iron to cure the paint.

First, try on your shirt to see where you will want your shells to be. Make marks with a washable fabric marker. (I chose to just wing it.)

Next, you're going to mix the paint and the textile medium with a ratio of 2:1. Two parts acrylic paint to one part textile medium. What this medium does is it makes any craft grade acrylic paint permanent and flexible on fabric. This means that it won't wash or flake off even if the fabric wrinkles.

Make sure you put a piece of parchment paper underneath the front layer of your shirt so that the paint doesn't get onto the back. The textile medium will make the two side stick together if you don't! Then, start painting your shells! I chose the basic clam shell shape like a certain red-haired mermaid.

After letting that dry, heat set it with either an iron or a heat tool. You're going to want to heat each area for at least thirty seconds to cure the medium.

Lastly, draw the outlines of the shells with the puffy scribbles paint for some dimension!

As always, feel free to mix it up! Add some embellishments like rhinestones or even use glitter paint for more texture and sparkle. How about writing a mermaid-themed quote underneath in a funky script? You could even paint some iridescent scales for that real siren look.